“NUTS!” (2016)

“NUTS!” is the mostly-true story of Dr. John Romulus Brinkley, who in 1917 discovers that he can cure impotence by transplanting goat testicles into men. After that, the story only gets weirder…

Using hand-drawn animated reenactments, interviews, archival footage, and a seriously unreliable narrator, NUTS! traces Brinkley’s rise from poverty and obscurity to the heights of celebrity, wealth and influence. Along the way, he transplants thousands of goat testicles; amasses an enormous fortune; is (sort of) elected Governor of Kansas; builds the world’s most powerful radio station; and generally annoys the heck out of the establishment. Doc Brinkley led an audacious life in which he conned everybody and made a disgraceful amount of money. How he does it, and what happens when it all comes crashing down, is the story of NUTS!

“Hey there, how’d you like to see a part-animated, research-rich, narratively fleet documentary about an early 20th century doctor who a) discovered an impotence cure by grafting goat-glands onto human testicles; b) was nearly elected governor of Kansas on a write-in ballot; c) built the world’s most powerful radio station; and d) invented the informercial? Say no more.” – Robert Abele, The Los Angeles Times

“As illuminating as it is immensely entertaining, Penny Lane’s doc uses charming hand-crafted animation to trace how Brinkley ballooned a wacko epiphany into a vast media empire built on nothing but hot air.” – David Ehrlich & David Fear, Rolling Stone

“[…] a quintessentially American story – one that elicits both wonder and horror.” – Glenn Kenny, The New York Times

“Director Penny Lane (Our Nixon) showcases, with wit and suspense, the undoing of one of the 20th century’s great flimflam artists, a huckster who seized then-new communication technologies – and the trappings of Christian divinity – to convince Americans of profitable nonsense.” – Alan Scherstuhl, The Village Voice

“It’s bonkers […] It’s an examination of truth and lies and fiction and the intersection between those realms.” – Trevor Groth, director of programming, Sundance Film Festival